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Referring Others

For students, college is a time of transition. Students face challenges such as forming intimate relationships and establishing a career identity, as well as various situational difficulties, and often seek help for such concerns from others. Research has shown more severe mental health problems manifesting among students than in the past. Faculty and staff, especially when in mentorship roles, are often the people to whom students show a need for help to. Faculty and staff must be able to recognize signs of distress in students, know the parameters of their roles as mentors and effectively refer students to appropriate mental health resources when needed. Parents and friends can also detect signs of distress. Use the following information to assist in problem recognition and referral for help.

Characteristics of Troubled Students

Problem behaviors may manifest in the classroom, advising sessions, living areas or during informal interactions, among other circumstances. Faculty and staff who have regular contact with students in these ways can assist with early detection and referral. Parents may learn about some of these behaviors through phone calls and roommates and friends observe day-to-day signs of distress. It is important to recognize the following characteristics which may be indicative of mental health concerns:

Extremely poor academic performance, or a change from high to low grades

It is important to recognize the differences among counseling, advising and coaching roles to ensure that the student is receiving the most appropriate service from the professional trained to provide it. Professional role boundaries and respecting areas of responsibility and competence are important in this respect. Some of the differences are described below.

Types of Contacts: Counselors typically meet with students once per week for an hour with the directed focus of resolving particular issues. Advisors, coaches, and faculty may meet as needed with appointments lasting a varying amount of time.

Roles: Advisors, faculty and coaches may interact with their students in multiple roles, for example as a teacher, at a departmental picnic or as the advisor of a student organization, to name a few. This necessitates care in negotiating and clarifying parameters of those interactions with the best interests of the student and avoiding conflicts of interest in mind. In a counseling relationship, multiple relationships are less frequent since they can often interfere with objectivity in the counseling process.

Responsibility: Advisors, faculty and coaches may initiate contact with a student who has been identified as at-risk academically and therefore in need of service or may routinely initiate contact with students assigned as their responsibility. This places some of the responsibility for the interaction on the faculty or staff member and not just on the student. In a counseling relationship, it is the responsibility of the student to initiate the first contact and agree to the helping relationship, except in the case of emergencies.

Professional training: Counselors are professionally trained in the diagnosis and treatment of a range of student problems, including situational difficulties, developmental concerns and mental health problems. Some faculty and staff have excellent judgment, intuition and life experiences that may inform interactions with students around similar issues, but they are not professionally trained to address such issues.

Confidentiality: Counseling is predicated on the principle of confidentiality that is established by law and professional ethics and disclosure of information to third parties without the consent of the client is prohibited. Disclosure of information about students by faculty and staff to professionals within the University who have cause to know and are in professional positions to assist that student is acceptable.

When and How to Refer

Whenever any of the signs of difficulties listed above are present and a student is not functioning at optimum level, a referral to the Counseling Center could be warranted. Often an empathic listener or a trusted mentor can provide the support, guidance or perspective to sufficiently help a student through a difficult situation or time in life. Teachers, advisors, Student Affairs staff and university personnel in general are dedicated to helping students learn, grow and succeed. There are times however, when the help of professionals trained to deal with psychological issues and problems is warranted. Faculty and staff should consider referring a student to Counseling Services in the following situations:

A student asks for help with a problem outside of your realm of expertise.

The student feels uncomfortable talking to you about the problem.

What you have done so far has not sufficiently helped reduce the problem.

The student’s behavior is disrupting others.

Helping the student could represent a conflict of interest or dual relationship and compromise your objectivity.

You are having a strong emotional reaction to the student’s situation, e.g. feeling overwhelmed, overly responsible, afraid or tired.

You are extremely busy or stressed or unwilling or unable to offer the necessary help.

Some aspects of making an effective referral include helping the student see that there may be a problem, showing care and instilling a sense of hope and confidence in the remedy through counseling. Specific suggestions for referring are provided below:

Talk to the student in private.

Express concern, while being specific about particular troubling behaviors.

Listen empathically.

Remain neutral.

Suggest to the student that it would be helpful to talk to someone at the Counseling Center who is trained to address his/her concerns. Have the student call to schedule an appointment from your office, if he/she is willing.

Demystify and destigmatize counseling as necessary.

Call a counselor yourself to consult about the student’s circumstances.

Obtain emergency help via University Police if there is a threat of danger or harm.

Follow up with the student to find out if he/she kept the appointment. Don’t inquire about details of the session, rather just show an interest in knowing that the student is getting the help he or she needs.

Confidentiality Statement

All client contacts and information obtained in the course of treatment is confidential. No information will be released without written authorization from the client, except in the rare cases of imminent danger or as required by law when there is a suspicion of child abuse, elder abuse or a court order.